In pre-season, he has been able to show the form that drove Chelsea to sign him from under the noses of Liverpool.
“I heard about Chelsea from a long time ago before that [deal] started,” said Lavia. “It was a no-brainer. The interest from Liverpool was there but in my head I wanted to play for Chelsea.”
Maresca knows Lavia’s pedigree, having worked with him when coaching Manchester City’s elite development squad.
“I had [playing alongside me] Rodri, Fernandinho, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva,” Lavia added. “These players could play in midfield and in different positions if needed and that’s something that when you look at it, you say, ‘wow, that’s the level.’
“They’re always putting their head down and working.”
Like Cole Palmer last year and Jadon Sancho before both of them, Lavia said he left City because he wanted first-team football.
“It was not a hard decision simply because I felt I was ready to play,” he said.
“I had a good conversation with the manager [Pep Guardiola] at the time and he said: ‘Listen, you’re young and you need to develop.’ He was honest about it.
“I felt like I could play and it was just about looking for the best opportunities to get to that stage as fast as possible.”
He looks poised to start at the base of Maresca’s midfield with two from Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall alongside him as more attacking number eights.
“I think we are building something amazing,” Lavia said. “Everyone at the club can feel it, not just the players but everyone.
“Man City and all the teams that have been successful, they needed years to do that. I’m not saying we need the same [amount of] years but it’s definitely going to take time. We are aware that it is not going to take two weeks.
“The confidence is there and if you look at all the teams, Chelsea is the one that is growing. Even though the results are not going how the other teams are doing at the moment, you can see the bigger picture.”
Read More: Romeo Lavia: Chelsea midfielder on dealing with injury setbacks
